Cleverkidz

Cleverkidz Tithe Farm Road, Houghton Regis, DUNSTABLE, Bedfordshire, LU5 5JB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/09/2014 02/04/2014

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 4 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Children's safety is compromised because the directors and providers do not adequately record vetting procedures for new staff members or ensure that people whose suitability has not been checked through a Disclosure and Barring Service check do not have unsupervised contact with children.  Not all staff are able to fully implement the safeguarding policy, as they have insufficient knowledge of how make a referral to the Local Safeguarding Children Board themselves should the need arise. Therefore, children are not fully safeguarded.  The security of the premises is compromised because the main door is not kept secure.  The key-person system is not implemented well and as a result, parents are not informed about who their child's key person is, therefore, working relationships are not fully effective to support children's continuity of care and learning.  Younger children's emotional well-being is not well supported as staff do not engage

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This provision is inadequate

effectively with children through daily routines and play.  Children's communication and language development is not promoted through planned, purposeful play and the next steps identified for younger children do not cover all prime areas. In addition, the management of children's behaviour is inconsistent.

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It has the following strengths

 Children benefit from fresh air and exercise as there are ample opportunities for them to be outside.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the nursery rooms and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documents and other documents including the safeguarding policy.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with the children.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a joint observation with one of the manager and held an interview with both managers.

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Information about the setting

Cleverkidz was registered in 2004 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from purpose-built premises within the grounds of Tithe Farm Lower School in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire. The nursery is operated by Cleverkidz Limited. It is accessible to all children and there are enclosed areas available for outdoor play. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7am until 6pm, all year round, with the exception of two weeks at Christmas and bank holidays. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 68 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 16 members of staff. Of these, 12 staff hold early years qualifications at level 3 and two staff hold

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider:

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

keep a record of information about staff qualifications and vetting processes that have been completed to ensure their suitability

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service check for all staff

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

ensure that people whose suitability has not been checked do not have unsupervised contact with children

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

take all reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised persons entering the premises

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

ensure that every child's care is tailored to meet their individual needs, promote a settled relationship for the child and build a relationship with their parents

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The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take the following

ensure that staff make consistent use of appropriate strategies to manage children's behaviour in an appropriate way.

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must:

 support children's communication and language development so that younger children develop their skills through planned, purposeful play opportunities

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must:

 use observations and assessments to consistently identify children's levels of achievement, interests and learning styles and then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations.

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who attend

The quality of teaching and learning is variable, so children do not make sufficient progress in their learning towards the early learning goals. There are many times when staff do not adequately support children to learn effectively. For example, staff in the toddler room do not provide sufficient opportunities for children to engage in purposeful play, nor do they support children's emotional needs or their communication and language development. For example, a staff member stopped children exploring the dough by removing it and telling them what shape they must make. Children become upset and the staff member ignore them. Consequently, children quickly lose interest in the activity and sit at the table disengaged. Children in the pre-school room engage in a physical activity; this provides an opportunity for them to work cooperatively together in teams. Initially the children engage well and listen to instructions given to them. Therefore, they begin to

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who attend

understand the reasons for rules in games. However, the activity involves the children standing in lines for a considerable amount of time and some of them begin to lose interest and become bored. When children move away to play with toys, staff bring them back and tell them they must stand in the line. Consequently, children's behaviour deteriorates and they shout and scream. Therefore, staff have to raise their voices to bring order back to the activity and children's behaviour is not always managed effectively to enable them to learn through the activities provided.

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who attend

Staff provide all children with suitable time to benefit from playing and learning outdoors. Children enjoy riding bikes, chalking on the ground and playing with sand and water. However, staff miss opportunities to develop children's learning outdoors because they do not effectively question children. For example, children ask a staff member to tie ribbons round them for seat belts on their bikes. The staff member does this but does not extend children's understanding of safety by asking them why they need to wear seatbelts to reinforce their learning. There are adequate resources available covering all seven areas of learning, especially in the baby room. Some staff demonstrate an awareness of how children learn and use their knowledge to ensure that children get the most out of their teaching. For example, staff in the baby room provide the babies with a rich environment. Babies enjoy freely exploring resources which stimulate all their senses and the staff

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who attend

support them well, giving regular praise and encouragement. However, this quality is not consistent throughout the nursery rooms.

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who attend

Some staff do not model language well or talk to the children throughout daily routines and during their play. For example, during snack and meal times, staff do not encourage younger children to talk to them or to each other. The staff use closed questions, such as 'What are you eating?' Consequently, children use one word answers and staff make no attempt to build on their language skills, so these children do not make good progress in developing their speaking skills. However, some staff in other rooms chat to the children and enjoy being in their company. For example, as children in the pre-school room make pictures, the staff member asks them what they are making and effectively questions them to describe what each piece of their picture is. Therefore, children show pride in their work and show it to other staff members. Staff talk about how they are beginning to plan activities to enable children to be ready for school. They encourage children to begin

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who attend

to write their name on their pictures independently. There is a mathematics resource area available where children can engage in counting, sorting and problem solving. However, staff miss opportunities to count for a purpose. For example, as children line up in teams the staff members count the children quietly to themselves and do not use the opportunity to extend children's learning. Some staff model mathematical language. For example, a staff member supports younger children filling up a bucket with water to count how many scoops of water they need. This encourages children to use number in their play.

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who attend

Staff in the rooms for children aged under three years focus on the prime areas of learning and the progress check for children aged between two and three years are in place. However, some staff do not adequately identify next steps for the younger children, especially with regard to communication and language, in addition, staff are unable to show how they plan to support these children. Some staff demonstrate sound knowledge of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Timely observations take place and some next steps are linked to children's age and stage of development. Staff support children learning English as an additional language adequately. For example, they use pictures to help the children understand what is going to happen during the day and staff use key words in the child's home language to aid communication.

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who attend

There are adequate links in place with parents with regard to their children's learning and development. Learning profiles are in place and are shared with parents at parents' evenings. Staff offer ideas about what parents can do to extend children's learning at home and provide stickers to encourage them to share children's home achievements. This ensures continuity in children's learning and development.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The key person system is inadequate. All children are assigned a key person and each room displays a list of who each child's key person is. However, the majority of parents spoken to by the inspector state they do not know who their child's key person is. This demonstrates a weakness in the communication between staff and the parents about the key-person system. In addition, staff are not forging relationships with the parents to enable care and learning to be effectively tailored to meet the children's needs. Warm, caring relationships are evident in the baby room as staff sit babies on their laps to look at books. Babies snuggle in and clearly enjoy looking at the books as they smile and point to pictures. However, staff do not support other young children's emotional development adequately. For example, children playing outside climb onto a wooden platform and enjoy looking over the fence. Staff members miss opportunities to talk to them about what they

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

can see as they lift children down saying they cannot be up there on their own. Staff fail to support the children to engage in alternative activities; consequently, children wander around aimlessly. Children's behaviour is variable. Children behave well when staff support them to engage in interesting activities. For example, as they play outside staff support some children by sharing books with them in the playhouse. However, there are occasions when children are made to wait, such as during meal times. For example, as young children finish their lunch they have to wait for everyone to finish. The children quickly become bored and move away from the table, staff encourage them to come back and sit down telling them to wait. Interactions from the staff towards children are cold and directive and they fail to engage in conversation or show any warm care; consequently, children continue to move away from the table. Staff make suggestions about sanctions

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

which they do not follow through, such as that children will not have pudding. This confuses and upsets children. Therefore, staff do not implement behaviour management strategies effectively and do not support children to develop their understanding of acceptable behaviour to help their eventual move to school.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff encourage some children to begin to be independent by providing them with opportunities to serve themselves food and drink at meal times. Children eat a wide range of nutritious food, which is cooked on site. Menus are planned in advance and incorporate fruit and vegetables every day. Special dietary requirements are adhered to. Drinking water is available at all times, which ensures children are not thirsty. However, the staff do not always effectively promote children's understanding of a healthy lifestyle by using the opportunity to talk to them about the food they are eating. Children have fresh air and exercise on a daily basis. The staff provide bicycles, balls and climbing equipment for children to develop their physical skills. In the baby garden, there is space for the babies to crawl and to pull themselves up to standing promotes children's physical development. Children have a basic awareness of personal safety. For example, staff remind them to

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

walk in the nursery so that they do not bump in to one another.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff follow an agreed programme for gathering information to help children settle into the nursery. Families attend settling-in sessions and parents complete all about me forms so that the staff have a full picture of the child's likes and dislikes before they start. This information is used to ensure that home routines are followed as much as possible. Staff prioritise babies' individual routines by allowing them to sleep when they need to. Children benefit from continuity of care and learning as they move rooms. Staff complete a handover form and accompany children on settling-in visits. However, this process does not adequately include parents, so they do not build effective relationships with their child's key person. When children have been accepted into a school, teachers are invited in to meet the children and the key person. Staff prepare children for the move to school by sharing stories about schools and collecting school uniforms for children to wear.

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provision

The provider has failed to meet a number of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register, with regard to safeguarding. As a result, children are not adequately safeguarded. Recruitment and vetting processes are inadequate as managers fail to keep evidence of references for new staff members. Identity checks are not thorough enough to ensure that all staff members are suitable to work with children. Managers failed to notify room leaders that some new staff members' Disclosure and Barring Service checks are not yet complete. Consequently, there are times when these staff members care for children unsupervised. Furthermore, the premises are not always secure as there are times when the main door to the nursery is left open. Therefore, there is a significant risk to the children's safety as unauthorised persons can enter the building. The managers use the

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provision

induction programme to enable all staff to gain knowledge of the safeguarding policy and procedure. However, not all staff gain an adequate understanding of how to implement the safeguarding policy, as they do not know how to contact the Local Safeguarding Children Board in a timely manner should the need arise. A sufficient number of staff have a current paediatric first-aid qualification. Consequently, any accidents children have are dealt with and recorded adequately.

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provision

The management team has a sound knowledge of the skills of the staff and are beginning to encourage their professional development. Since the last inspection, a training programme has been put in place and all staff have received training on the Early Years Foundation Stage. This has enabled them to begin to make some improvements to their practice. For example, staff working with younger children are more familiar with the prime areas of learning. Regular manager appraisals and supervisions are now in place and completed by the provider. As a result, the professional development of all staff, including the manager are beginning to be addressed. Monitoring of children's learning and development by the management team is variable and inconsistent. For example, managers fail to notice that many young children's communication and language development is below the expected level for their age. Consequently, they do not support

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provision

staff to identify precise next steps for children in this area of learning. Therefore, staff focus on potty training and counting at the parents' request rather than accurately assessing children's broader learning needs across all of the prime areas. Therefore, children's progress is not adequately supported. The managers are beginning to reflect appropriately on the development of the provision through self-evaluation. Staff meetings are held regularly and used for managers to update the staff on policies and procedures and to reflect on practice. Parents' views are incorporated into future plans for the nursery through parent forum meetings. Consequently, ongoing development of practice is beginning to be planned.

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provision

Parents mainly speak positively about the nursery and feel their children are happy and settled. There are many opportunities available for the flow of information between the nursery and the parents, including, emails, newsletters and discussions at drop-off and collection times. Partnership working with other agencies and professionals, such as the local authority, is adequate. Information is shared so that any additional support is implemented to aid children's learning and development. The nursery has suitable relationships with the local schools. Teachers visit the nursery to meet the children and to observe them in a familiar environment. The nursery share s transition information about children's achievements with school s and other settings to ensure all children benefit from continuity in their care and learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that no individual who is unsuitable to work with children has unsupervised access to a child receiving childcare (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that staff are suitable to work with children, which must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that no individual who is unsuitable to work with children has unsupervised access to a child receiving childcare (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that staff are suitable to work with children, which must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY278278 Local authority Central Bedfordshire Inspection number 978272

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 79 Number of children on roll 68 Name of provider Cleverkidz Limited Date of previous inspection 02/04/2014 Telephone number 01582 868000

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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